Tips for a successful snapper season

Before we get into the fishing report this week, I just want to thank the entire Jacksonville fishing community for the outpouring of love and support the last few weeks after my motorcycle accident. For those who don’t know, I was hit head-on by an impaired driver June 19 and am still in the hospital working toward recovery every day. It will be a long, tough road to a new normal, but I’m committed to getting back behind the helm.
Thankfully, between surgeries, my days have been filled with visits from family, friends and some of the area's best fishermen and guides. We’ve discussed everything from kingfish movements with water clarity differences to fly tying theory for tarpon and flood tide redfishing. By far, the most common topic has been red snapper season – all 5 days of it. With the first weekend of snapper season rapidly approaching, that’s going to be the focus of today’s report.
For anyone planning on snapper fishing this weekend, the number one thing I can advise is patience. Be prepared mentally to deal with complete chaos at the boat ramp, and then it probably won’t be much better at the reefs, especially nearshore. That said, the fish are there, and you should have no problem getting a limit if you grind it out with the crowd. Last year during the snapper season I saw some great displays of sportsmanship; if a boat was on a hot spot and got a limit, they would usually let someone else move over the school and get catching. With a one-fish-per-person limit, it really doesn’t take long to hit it, and once you do, mix it up and go kingfishing or head out deeper for vermillion and mangrove snapper to round out the box.
For tackle, really any bottom fishing set up will work, conventional or spin. More important than the type of reel is a smooth and strong drag. When you're pulling a 20 pound snapper off the bottom, you have to be able to put enough heat on it to keep it out of the structure and get it up fast enough so a Goliath grouper or shark doesn’t steal it. I personally use 8,000 to 10,000 size spinning reels with 60 pound braid for mainline, and about 10 feet of pink 80 pound flourocarbon as a shock leader. Drag pretty much locked down and ready for a fight. You can then use a traditional chicken rig with two hooks and a bank weight at the bottom for cut bait. Cut pogy, squid, mackerel, cigar minnow or grunt will all work well if you’re on the fish.
To specifically target big snapper in the 10 pound to 20 pound plus range, think more grouper style terminal tackle. Either use a knocker rig or a three-way swivel and a long 10 to 15 foot leader. Start with 80 pound and drop to 60 pound if you’re not getting bites. For hooks, a 8/0 circle is my go-to, since it's perfect for a big live pogy, threadfin, cigar minnow or butterflied grunt. The temptation is usually to put these bigger baits in a rod holder at the back of the boat and wait for a bite – don’t make that mistake. This is your chance to actually bring a trophy snapper home for dinner, so hold onto that rod and be ready when the bite comes. I can’t tell you how many times we miss bites on unattended rods, and often you don’t know until you bring it up to go to the next spot and find a bare hook or a mangled bait. Snapper hit quick, and with that circle hook, if you don’t get reeling as soon as the rod starts to bend and load up, then it’s goodbye fish. That said, don’t set the hook! Let the circle hook design do its job and just reel with all you’ve got. Start pumping up and reeling down smooth and steady. The first 30 feet is the hardest; once you get up past that, the air bladder expanding will take most of the fight out of the fish.
For those who don’t want to enter the chaos of snapper weekend, inshore fishing has been pretty good this week. Captain Andrew Mizell from Black Fly Outfitter paid me a visit Tuesday after his charter and gave a good report for redfish in the creeks. He and his client saw fish pushing and backing on oyster bars and mud flats on the lower tides, and managed to trick a few into eating a fly, a task much easier said then done as any saltwater fly angler can attest. With low tide being midday over the weekend, it will be hot, but so should the bite. Focus on points, mouths of feeder creeks, oyster bars and any structure the fish can orient on to ambush bait.
For early risers, the sunrise high tide is a perfect time to throw topwater plugs over top of submerged oysters, around docks and especially along the grass lines once the water starts moving out of the grass. At high tide, redfish love to snake in and out of the edge of the grass, weaving a few feet into the grass then gliding along the edge of the creek. Often, if you’re quiet, you can hear subtle pops as they slurp crabs and snails off the grass blades. When you find them doing this, you know that they are actively hunting. Those fish will almost always eat if you can get a bait in front of them.
Weather-wise, the coming weekend looks good for red snapper wranglers, Kingfish Tournament participants and inshore anglers alike. At least for now, the forecast is calling for relatively light winds, afternoon showers and moderate swell that should allow for everyone to get out and enjoy the great summer fishing on the First Coast. I wish I was able to be out there with all of you, so put off the lawn care and the to-do list, pack up the family, hook the boat up and get out on the water.